774 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



cape, and work is applied to the piston, causing a compression of steam into a 

 smaller volume, thereby increasing its pressure, such work is stored up and avail- 

 able, as it would be if used in bending a steel spring. 



A novel telephone-transmitter has a button of the following description at- 

 tached to the vibrating diaphragm of the mouth-piece, and interposed in the cir- 

 cuit of an electric current : The button is composed of masses of conducting 

 pellets or globules — as lead shot, or a fine grade of any such well-rounded par- 

 ticles — which, when pressed together in the form of a button, will not shift. 

 Sound waves acting upon said button cause undulations in the electric current. 



FIRE-PROOF BUILDINGS. 



VALUABLE SUGGESTIONS BY GENERAL M. C. MEIGS. 



The recent fire in New York has revived the old question of fire-proof build- 

 ings. The burning of the Morrell store-house on Thirty-second Street last fall 

 was a surprise to many, as it was considered fire-proof. Taken in connection, 

 however, with the recent burning and loss of life on Park Row, the public is be- 

 ginning to realize that such a thing as a fire-proof building is not to be found. 

 Iron buildings burn, crumble, and collapse with heat; stone offers but slight op- 

 position to the progress of flames when the latter gets a fair headway. Indeed, 

 nothing but solid brick and mortar seem to be able to resist the ravages of heat 

 any length of time. Wood, when properly protected, makes, all things consid- 

 ered, the best fire-resisting material, with the exception of brick, used for con- 

 struction purposes. The writer has seen a door frame of two thicknesses of one 

 inch oak screwed together, resist a hot fire, for a period of forty minutes, thereby 

 saving valuable property and perhaps lives. An iron door would have warped 

 and twisted to such an extent, that the flames would have lapped around and be- 

 yond it ia five minutes. A timber post will sustain its load until the last, 

 whereas an iron one will warp, double up and let the whole structure fall at the 

 shortest possible notice. Three-fourths of the city buildings that take fire are not 

 destroyed by fire ; they simply get heated enough to warp and displace the sup- 

 ports, then the whole thing falls in and burns up. 



Buildings constructed of wood, with walls and floors made solid by filling in 

 with concrete, mortar, or other inflammable materials, burn so slowly that dan- 

 ger to life by burning in such cases could not occur without criminal negligence. 

 Indeed, a structure of wood, built as suggested, would rank amongst the best of 

 fire-proof buildings, and more particularly would this be the case if all the timber- 

 work was protected by pla'-ter covering, and resinous woods and oil paints 

 avoided. General Meigs, of the War Department, Washington, in an excellent 

 letter to the New York Herald, a few days ago, on the subject of the late fire,, 

 makes use of the following language : 



